Kitchen Kink - Marc Turlan, 2024

Photography by Marc Turlan, feat. Gabriel
Île du Levant, 2024
[Heavy] Feral Magazine, Vol. 1

Project: Kitchen Kink - Marc Turlan shoots on naturist island Île du Levant for Heavy Feral

This feature focuses on French photographer/artist Marc Turlan and his muse Gabriel, set on the unique French naturist island of Île du Levant.

Concept & Development

This story provides a window into a truly unique subculture. I interviewed Marc Turlan about his life and work on the island, a place where nudity is the norm. The feature includes his own erotic photography of Gabriel, the reigning "Mister Levant," captured in a playful and provocative kitchen-themed shoot. Furthermore, the interview explores the island's history, its distinct relationship with nudity and sex, and Turlan's artistic process. Ultimately, the piece functions as both an artist profile and a travel guide to a hidden paradise, brilliantly showcasing the essence of Kitchen Kink Marc Turlan's work.

Execution & Deliverables

• Location: Île du Levant, France (Remote Interview)

• Format: Artist Profile, Interview, Curated Photography, Travel Guide

• Publication: Feral Magazine, Issue 1 (Pages 158-167)

• My Role: Interview, Writing, Curation, Art Direction, Layout, Editorial Design, Video Editing

The Opposite of Domestication: (HEAVY) Feral – Issue #1

Fences can’t hold us in. (HEAVY) Feral – Issue #1 with "Kitchen Kink" - Marc Turlan. This inaugural issue features 15 captivating stories.

About (HEAVY) Feral – Issue #1

This special edition is a tangible experience:

• Edition: Limited to 500 hand-numbered copies (250 per cover variant).

• Design: Features an elegant design printed on premium Munken paper.

• Content: 180 pages of intimate artistic studies across queer life in the 2020s so far.

Feral, Not Famous: A Journey Across Four Continents

I've harboured a desire to create a print magazine for as long as I can remember, and the pandemic served as the ultimate catalyst. It was the last straw. The knots that bound me to my old ways with photography suddenly became undone, and I decisively chose to follow my dreams instead.

As borders eased, I began hopping from place to place. However, despite the travel, I still felt isolated. Consequently, I turned my gaze to thin, invisible spaces, experiencing days without night. Ideas rushed over me in showers, washing away doubts and the weight of judgment. I embarked on this journey with a rough plan, but no roadmap, letting life guide me. My arsenal consisted of cameras, a backpack, and voice recordings on an iPhone. Late nights were spent transcribing candid conversations, dumping strings of disconnected thoughts into a notes app. Eventually, a clear theme emerged: Is it still OK to be gay? A powerful record of queer life in the 2020s started forming – moments caught, going, and ultimately, letting go. The question lingered: Where to next?

Life, in its essence, kills. We are a generation longing, connected by Wi-Fi, yet desperate to meet in person. Our connections are built out of late-night DMs and secret photo dumps, often leading to short interactions. Sometimes, these connections stick; mostly, however, they don't. Regardless, that's fine. We won’t be told we’re not normal, and we won’t change. The deeper question remains: Is life even about living anymore?

Geographic Explorations & Intimate Studies

The journey documented in Feral delves into diverse locales and experiences:

• London: Something is about to get blown. With them, everything is play: words, ideas, bodies. A friendship that isn’t sex, but is profoundly intimate. Joy is contagious, and clothing remains optional.

• Berlin: Formless. Red paint. Czech stallion. Carb-loaded. Body count lost in steam. Witnesses didn’t matter, because this wasn’t for them.

• Paris: The erupting self-portraitist of the Bois de Vincennes. Dreamy-eyed, rumpled. Pollinating the internet with his body. He smelled like earth.

• Cape Town: Bluephoria. Baby-face. Lush pits. Pansexual power-vers. Heavy construction. Here, it was less sightseeing, and more about "them."

• Île du Levant: A naked island in the Mediterranean. Bare feet on salt-etched rocks. Steak, peaches, Mister Levant. Erotic. Kitchen Kink. Marc Turlan. Perfect.

• Amsterdam: Filter culture. A Romanian stoner turned homoerotic cutout archivist, erased by Instagram. They still think we’re animals. If only they knew they’re not wrong.

• Berlin again: Two girls, seventeen years of shared beds, shared boys, shared lives. While they state, “We don’t date,” they’ve touched each other, and they unquestionably love each other.

Ultimately, something has formed that’s bigger than geography, connecting experiences across Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, South Africa, Germany, USA, Italy, France, Netherlands, Romania, and Portugal.

I slipped off my shorts as they asked me to join them on that terrace and let go of everything. I dropped my restraint, leaving it to simmer in the sun. We might have parted ways, but what I left behind still lingers on that London rooftop. That’s where Feral kicks off.

Infinity, unresolved.

Project: Kitchen Kink - Marc Turlan shoots on naturist island Île du Levant for Heavy Feral

This feature focuses on French photographer/artist Marc Turlan and his muse Gabriel, set on the unique French naturist island of Île du Levant.

Concept & Development

This story provides a window into a truly unique subculture. I interviewed Marc Turlan about his life and work on the island, a place where nudity is the norm. The feature includes his own erotic photography of Gabriel, the reigning "Mister Levant," captured in a playful and provocative kitchen-themed shoot. Furthermore, the interview explores the island's history, its distinct relationship with nudity and sex, and Turlan's artistic process. Ultimately, the piece functions as both an artist profile and a travel guide to a hidden paradise, brilliantly showcasing the essence of Kitchen Kink Marc Turlan's work.

Execution & Deliverables

• Location: Île du Levant, France (Remote Interview)

• Format: Artist Profile, Interview, Curated Photography, Travel Guide

• Publication: Feral Magazine, Issue 1 (Pages 158-167)

• My Role: Interview, Writing, Curation, Art Direction, Layout, Editorial Design, Video Editing